Oh my, what an exciting day we had!!! We went to the Whistler Blackcomb again, this time with Mum and Gwen – their first destination in B.C.
The weather forecast was there is 60% probability that it will be raining in Whistler. We took our chances and went. Reached Whistler Village at about 10.30am and indeed, it was drizzling. So when its drizzling over here, temperatures hover between 10-15 degrees. Most of the times, the temperature is about 12 degrees. It was really cloudy and when the wind blows, oh boy, it can get really cold.
So we went to the Visitor Info to book our activity for the day. Thank goodness we arrived early as the last timing for activities is 4pm. So we booked for dog sledding at 1.15pm and thought that after we are done with that, we’ll book the horseback riding. Then we bought lift tickets to go up the mountain. This time round, the chairlifts we took were different from the ones we took the first time. We had to walk to the base of Blackcomb Mountain and take the chairlifts from there.
It takes about 45mins to 1 hr to reach the top of the mountain. So in order to make it to the dog sledding on time and have lunch, we have to hurry a little. However, when we reached the chairlifts at the base of Blackcomb, the attendant told us to get waterproof and warm clothing as it was SNOWING at the top of the mountain! So we hurried to rent warm clothings as we only had 3 thin layers of clothes. We think we were quite remarkable, why? Because we braved about -2 degrees in just our jeans and normal shoes!
Then we started on our way up to the mountain. At that time, the rain was still a slight drizzle. There was a group of Indians on the descending chairlifts who said that the attendants didn’t let them go up the mountains. Oh oh, we went. But we managed to continue to change to another chairlift to continue our journey up. After this 2nd chairlift, we had to take a bus to the 7th Heaven Express. This will bring us up to the top.
So on the bus, the friendly and humourous driver told us a bit of the mountains and the animals sightings such as bears and deers on the mountains. Turns out the bus is to be our last warm comfort.
On way up via the 7th Heaven Express, it started to SNOW!!! Snowflakes falling from the sky! And yes, by this time, we were really cold especially with our wet shoes. By the time we reached the top, we were really ‘chilled out’. We dashed to the hut to get hot drinks and some food. The journey up Blackcomb to the Horstmann glacier is a rather unforgettable journey.
Looking out of the hut, we could convince ourselves that it is Christmas. Snow seems to be falling heavily and even the skiers can’t seem to take it. Suppose no one expected a snowfall, much less a heavy snowfall. It was difficult to walk around on the snow mostly because our fingers and toes felt frozen! We could feel pain in our toes and hoped that we wouldn’t get frostbite. So after a few photos, we started to go down the mountain. We were ever so thankful that the attendant at the bottom of the mountain told us to get warm wear. I suppose this was why the Indians were told to turn back because they were not warmly dressed enough.
By the way, at the top of the mountain is a glacier, called the Horstmann glacier. This glacier allows skiing in summer, the longest operating ski run in North America. This ski run is recommended for intermediate skiers. At this glacier, we were a least 7000 feet above ground!
Somehow, the descent down the mountain seems to get colder. Most probably this is because of the open space and the wind is blowing. On our last chairlift, we saw a deer!!! But it was a kinda of too far away for us to get a proper look at it.
When we reached the bottom of the mountain, it was cold! So we kept our rented jackets on and headed for our dog sledding.
For the dog sledding, we were brought up to a mountain. This time, its Whistler Mountain. We went up in a car and were told to look out for bears, deers and moose. For some time, we didn’t see any animals. Then suddenly, I (JACKLYN YONG) spotted a black movement on the mountain and quickly said “I think there’s a bear!” So the driver stopped the vehicle and everyone looked to their right. 1 second passed, no bear. Another second passed, still no bear. At this time, I wondered if I had been too anxious (and my usual klutzy self) and didn’t actually see the bear. Then the driver said he thinks I got it! Then we saw one bear walking slowly. Followed by another bear. So we have a mother bear and a cub. The males will be traveling alone as this is mating season and they will be on the lookout. Then we continued up.
Then Mum said “Deer, deer”. We saw a deer, this time on the left. It seems to be a young one and it looked kinda lost. But it stood still and we were able to take nice pictures of it.
Then the rest of the trip up was not as eventful. And then we reached where the dogs were.
They were Alaskan Huskies, cross-bred and not entirely full-bred. This is because even at B.C., whereby average temperature during winter is about -10 degrees, its still considered too warm a climate for the pure-bred Huskies. Hence the ones we were going to sled with were crossbreds. (So, in S’pore, whereby people are rearing Huskies, I think these people are being very cruel, even with the air-conditioning on 24hrs. The Huskies must be in perpetual sauna. So, please, don’t rear any Huskies in S’pore. Go to the North Pole or somewhere close there to do so. I’m serious!)
So we played with the dogs for some time, getting to know them. Some of the dogs were really shy. One didn’t even liked to be patted. However, despite their shyness, they are very good in their job. The youngest dog we have is 8months old and who is just trained for 2 months and is already excellent in her job. The oldest is about 11years old. Some dogs were real friendly, jumping onto us and wants us to pat them. They seemed really eager to go and run and run and run.
Gwen and I went first and then Mum and Nicholas will have their turn when we return. The sled ride is about 10 minutes. So, once the dogs were told to go, they ran like they were trying to catch up with the winds. After a while, they lost steam and slowed their pace. I was told that when they finish the run, they will feel very hot and some of them will even roll in the snow to get cooler. While riding, we can shout to the dogs to encourage them because everyone and every animal needs to have encouragement to go on right? Towards the end of the ride, we let the dogs rest for a little time so that they can run fast to pull us up the slope. When its time to go, we shout “Up, Up” to get the dogs moving. When they stopped, I saw a dog eating snow! Gwen saw some dogs rolling in the snow.
When we were done, its Mum’s and Nicholas’ time to go. Everything went on normally until suddenly the dogs pulling Nicholas went off the trail and headed for Mum’s sled! To Gwen and I, there appeared to be some kind of collision. But Mum said there was actually no collision. The guide explained that the dogs followed the trails by smell and they must have smelt something which threw them off-trail.
When we have all completed our runs, we gave the dogs treats. At this time, even the shyest of the dogs became friendly. At the same time, it started to fog up and it got foggier by the minute. Guess we were in the clouds then. It got colder and colder as we waited for the driver to reach us to bring us down. While waiting, we got to know the dogs better. This is nature at its best!
Unfortunately, on the way down Whistler, we didn’t see any moose or other animals to complete our collection of animal views. But we got to know that the best time to go Whistler will be January, where it won’t be that crowded. But it will be at its coldest. By the way, winter Olympics will be held in Whistler in 2010. People in Whistler aim to complete the preparations for the Olympics by Dec 2008. So, its time to plan when is the most economical time to go skiing in Whistler. And yes, we have to save again because Whistler is one of the most expensive place to live in as there’s only one road leading in to it. When the road is blocked by snow, prices skyrocket, reaching the peak of the mountains.
